Modern integrated circuits often contain redundant components to provide a failover mechanism. Such a mechanism provides that, when a regular component fails, a redundant component is activated to replace the regular component.
For example, when an integrated memory circuit is manufactured, a group of redundant cells are disposed within the circuit. If a memory cell is defective as a result of a manufacturing process or fails after the circuit is fabricated, the defective/failed memory cell may be replaced by a redundant component. This may be done, for example, by transferring the address of the defective/failed cell to the redundant component.